John Fereira wrote:
Terry wrote

Hi Steve,
When you say "It always amazes me when
a person says they want to start paddling becuase they want to do
something epic as their first trip. "

When I was 19 a guy told me about the race and I wanted to do it. I did
alot of things in life but did not do the race. Then a guy I work with
did it and I realized at age 36 that life is passing me by.

I think that what Steve is eluding to is the rather common belief that if
one is phyically fit and has the desire to do so that paddling the
equivelant of a runners marathon isn't going to require a significant amount
of training and skill development.

The TWS is quite a bit more than a running marathon. Casual joggers run
marathons and go out to dinner afterwards. TWS is 60+ hours of effort,
punctuated by portages, dams, fire ants, gar attacks, dehydration, and
exhaustion. As Riverman opined, a fit beginner may start, but will drop
out, frustrated, at perhaps 20% distance. Terry may have the
constitution to do it all, but not without significant training.

But actually, my statement quoted above stands for itself. But that's
partly because for me, as for many of us here, paddling is a way of
life, and we've been doing it for a long time. Some of us have gotten
good at it, others, just mess about. But few paddlers choose to do
something like the TWS, and when a non-paddler decides to, it's, well,
amazing to me. Sort of like me, a non-horsey person, deciding to enter
that desert race in the movie Hidalgo, 3000 miles across the sand.

I want to do this race not because I will win but because it's been a
life goal for a long time, would be a great motivator and goal for me
getting in shape the way I wish to be, and seems like a great way to
challenge myself.

Go for it friend, and good luck. But understand that there is a long way
to go. Have you considered putting together a team? 3-4 person canoe
teams are not uncommon in the TWS. The group may have positive social,
psychological, and training benefits for you.

I'm sure that there are thousands of casual joggers that aspire to running a
marathon, but those that do, work up to it by running 5K and 10K races.

Attempting to paddle the race you're considering with a fairly short (by
touring boat standards) plastic boat with some serious hull deformities (oil
canning) is like attempting to run a marathon in street shoes because you
walk to work every day.

As someone else suggested, learning how to execute an efficient forward
stroke will provide the most benefit, and a couple of hours with a good
instructor may be the quickest way to give you a jump start. There are also
several good books and videos that might help.

Steve

--
Steve Cramer
Athens, GA